Birthday gift
by smokeydog
Summary: Layla ia a competitive gift giver. What do you get a boyfriendwith rich and indulgent parents. WillLayla, WillStrongholdsplease review


This is purely a work of fiction. I do not own the copyright for these characters. I am not making any money off this project.

This story is rated T for Teen. There is an implied sex scene. Will/Layla, but it is also a story about the interaction between Will and his parents.

This story has a strong sense of whimsy, which I how I generally write Sky High. It is one thing I like about the fandom.

Again, please review, writers need lots of encouragement. I will take into account what people are looking for in a story.

WHAT DO YOU GET YOUR BOYFRIEND FOR HIS BIRTHDAY WHEN HE HAS EVERYTHING?

That was Layla Williams's quandary. The Strongholds had one child and a great deal of disposable income. Will had pretty much everything he wanted – excluding privacy and control of his destiny. His birthday was only two days away and she still hadn't come up with the perfect gift. Layla had a bit of a competitive streak when it came to gift giving."

She'd mulled the problem over in her head all afternoon. It was a pleasant distraction from the wedding shower her mother had dragged her too. Layla knew she was there as window dressing. _Look at my_ _daughter. No piercings, 3.8 GPA, a clean-cut boyfriend._

Sometimes Layla got tired of being the good girl.

It wasn't like she knew the bride-to-be, of any other guests. Other than Chloe Pieper (**THE MUSICIAN)** and Mrs. Stronghold, these women were strangers.

_How can I forget Felicity? _Layla scowled darkly at the animated blonde sitting next to her. Having a boyfriend like Will had earned her the enmity of some of her classmates. Her female Hero classmates, to be exact. Popular, voluptuous Felicity Bowman couldn't abide the fact that the Stronghold Heir would consent to be seen in public with a sidekick, much less have a physical relationship with one. Layla found her attitude absurd since Felicity would have to completely re-make Will before he was appropriate boyfriend material for her.

Loud laughter rang from across the room. _I see they've got the margarita machine working._ Personally Layla thought it was a little tacky to drink at a wedding shower. Ten thirty to forty something women

clustered around the bride-to-be. All the grandmothers and maiden aunts had left. Layla was pretty sure everyone was in the superperson business.

One of them opened a metal box. Layla noticed the Superbeing community emblem on it. It looked very high tech. She caught a flash of silver. At first she thought one of the bridesmaids was twirling a bracelet in mid air. Layla heard someone tease the bride about not letting him get away and she realized it was a pair of handcuffs.

"Ah, they're breaking out the sex toys," Felicity murmured in her ear. "I imagine they're feeling pretty frisky. Liquor in the afternoon and something other than a battery operated vibrator."

It wasn't the words that made Layla angry. She could easily imagine Will saying the same thing. It was the contempt in the other girl's voice.

Curious, Layla wandered a little closer to the group. She didn't think the handcuffs looked like novelty items you'd buy at **DOCTOR JOHNS. **She picked up a smatter of conversation_ Latest model, 70 berillium, not even the Commander_

"How were you able to smuggle that out of whatever top secret lab it belongs to?" Layla asked nonchalantly. A glimmer of an idea took hold of her.

"Oh, there's a new model coming out. These are being retired," one of the ladies jumped in quickly.

"Layla sweetheart, why don't you start working on the kitchen." Natalie Williams was a bit surprised when Layla didn't scowl and roll her eyes at her. Like a perfectly dutiful daughter, she gathered up the messy

cake plates and wrapping paper. The older woman resumed their conversation.

Nobody noticed the large fern near the couch stretch out a tendril and snag one of the pair of handcuffs off the table. It fell to the floor. Layla kicked it under the couch.

THREE HOURS LATER 

Layla cleaned the entire kitchen. Slowly the party broke apart. She worried that her mother would want to leave before she could safely retrieve the cuffs, but Josie had to sober up a bit before driving them home. Finally, the room was empty and Layla took her opportunity. She dashed to the couch. Yes, the handcuffs had been overlooked. She stuck them in her purse.

TWELVE HOURS LATER 

Layla lay on her bed. The cuffs clutched in one hand. If Will could see her he'd say she was plotting. He'd be right. She judged the pros and cons of her idea until she was satisfied.

Warren Peace once said Will and Layla had such an astronomically high cutie darling number that he was surprised the school didn't implode from the sheer sugar content.

The truth was that the cutest couple had a long history of getting into mischief together. The sheer volume and originality of their plans had never been fully uncovered or appreciated.

**THE EVENING OF WILL STRONGHOLD'S 17th BIRTHDAY**

Time and privacy had been the biggest obstacles. Time was the easiest solved. Will's parents were tired after the big family party they'd thrown in the afternoon. They seemed delighted when Will said he was going out to dinner with Layla.

Warren Peace had been the one of tell her about Mei Ling. Being one-fourth Chinese had some advantages. It was a nondescript building in not the best section of Chinatown. Warren said he'd blister her backside if she went there by herself. The building, he told her, catered to more exotic forms of entertainment. Discretion was their claim to fame.

Will was near fit to bursting. He had so many questions. Layla told him they were going to the **Paper**

**Lantern**, then she'd dragged him down a street he'd never been on before. The area didn't look very safe to him, but people knew he was Warren's friend.

'_Sides, what could they really do._

The manager's patent expression of amazed disbelief when a young white girl tried to rent a room nearly was her undoing, but she handed him Warren's note. The oriental man looked at her for a long minute, then acquiesced.

"One night. Cash. Tell Peace the debt is paid."

Will goggled at this. Layla knew he wouldn't rest until he got the story out of Warren.

The manager gave them a key. Not the card you see in most hotels, but a real key. Will took her hand and they entered the stairwell. Layla saw five or six young, tough looking oriental men playing cards in a back room. _Bouncers_

Will waved at them. They didn't return the favor.

The room they were assigned was on the sixth floor. For once, Will and Layla were not talking. She caught him looking at her shyly from under his beautiful thick lashes.

Warren had told her the building didn't look like much from the outside, but he hadn't told her the inside was even shabbier. There was precious little light in the hallway. The carpet was clean, but thread bare. Will swore to himself that at the first sound of scurrying feet he was out of there. If Layla didn't want to come with him, he'd carry her.

"Are you sure about this? Will asked her.

"Here's the door. Let's find out how bad it is?" She clutched the handcuffs behind her back, took a deep breath, and followed Will into the room.

LATER 

Will held the two separated parts of the handcuffs. Layla looked a little worried.

"Do you think this is going to be a problem?"

TWO DAYS LATER

Everything seemed to be normal in the Stronghold universe. Will and Layla had gotten home before curfew. Josie Stronghold was a bit surprised when her son asked where the ibuprofen was, but didn't ask any questions. Monday was a school day. The kids caught the bus, slept through class, Will and Warren won Save the Citizen. It was the typical teenage thing.

One day led to another. Will concealed the broken handcuff in his sock drawer. He didn't think about it much. He figured he and Layla were in the clear.

It was Thursday when the first hint of trouble arose. Josie came home late from work. Will helped his mother get dinner together. She was quiet. Steve asked why she was late but she just said they'd talk about it later.

After dinner, Will cleaned the kitchen. He kept creeping around, trying to spy his parents talking to each other. If they went down to the secret sanctum he was screwed. He had the dishwasher going when he saw them go into the study. They left the door ajar. Knowing he'd be grounded for a month if they caught him, he tiptoed closer.

His mother was sitting at the desk chair. Her glasses were off and she seemed to be rubbing her eyes. Steve was rubbing her shoulders.

_It could be anything. Some supervillain escaped or a volcano blew up or somebody is getting divorced. It doesn't have to be the handcuffs._

"I could kill Cynthia Bowman," Will heard his mother say. '"Of all the stunts to pull."

The next words nearly caused Will to stop breathing. "Are you certain no one knows where the missing handcuffs are?"

"I can't be positive," she admitted. "I don't know all of them very well. I only really trust Natalie, and maybe Grace."

"I don't know what you were thinking? Handing around protocol material like that."

"I didn't sneak them out of a high security lab. Cynthia said she was collecting them to recycle the metal. I didn't hear you complaining when . . . " The phone rang, ending the conversation. Will could tell it was his grandmother on the other end. He retreated to his room, wondering what on earth he was going to do.

THE NEXT DAY AT LUNCH, SKY HIGH

It was a particularly pleasant day. Warren Peace was leaning against one of the school's walls, soaking up the sun's rays. He was on the school's outer boundary. Nobody else was around.

Most of the student body found him to be intimidating. He couldn't imagine why.

He was enjoying the solitude when a certain redhead and brunette came into his line of vision. He could tell they were not talking. Not a good sign.

"Stronghold, hippie," the pyro greeted them. Will was fidgety. Layla's brown eyes were huge. "What's wrong?"

Will dropped onto the grass. "First, you have to promise not to laugh."

A few moments later loud, booming laughter broke the silence. The few students within hearing distance looked with amazement of such a sound coming from the famously brooding Warren Peace.

Will looked annoyed. "You promised."

"No I didn't," Peace corrected him. "This is priceless, Stronghold."

"It's not funny," he insisted. "It's about to become an international incident."

"This is all my fault." Peace stopped laughing. He had a soft spot for Layla.

"Layla," Will hugged her. "Don't say that. We're in this together."

It was times like this that Warren really admired Will Stronghold. You could count on him. Warren had seen more than his fair share of betrayal. He admired loyalty.

"So, I guess you've come to me to fix your little problem."

They nodded. It was a bit scary, the force of their confidence in him.

"Tell me everything you know."

"Cynthia Bowman, her daughter hates me by the way," Layla said.

"Why," Will asked, perplexed.

"She would like to be dating the Stronghold Heir."

"After what she said about JK Rowling, I wouldn't date her if my life depended upon it."

"Stronghold, focus. We have bigger problems than Voldemort at the moment."

"Cynthia Bowman is a tech in research and development. She has affinity of metal. Her department had either just finished, or was about to finish testing new prototype handcuffs. The metal is berillium. They were suppose to be unbreakable."

"I doubt anyone tested them quite the way you two did," Warren said dryly.

Layla blushed. Will grinned sheepishly.

"She decided to bring them to the wedding shower my mother dragged me to. Do not ask me why? She lied at the party, she said they were old cuffs she was collecting to recycle. Now there is a pair missing and the lab is in an uproar. Mom was on the phone all night about it. Bowman only has a few more days to find them before her supervisor will have to report it. They have some big meeting coming up. World leaders, the UN, the Superbeing supreme council."

"I heard Dad talking about it. Berillium is pretty expensive and the cuffs were really sort of a cheap way to test some new process for purifying the metal. Also, it's sort of a security nightmare of have something like that disappear."

"You do have the handcuffs," Warren asked. Will nodded. "Good, you're going to have to return them."

Will swallowed. Layla looked a little sick.

"And you should do it soon. Give them to your parents. They're important enough that as long as they're returned nobody will question it too much. Your folks might read you the riot act, but they wouldn't let anyone else. Layla, put your hair in pigtails and wear that pink peasant blouse."

"I look ten years old in it," she complained.

"Will, mess up your hair, wear a slightly big shirt and look as innocent as possible. Nobody does that 'who me' routine better than you. Layla, you tell them you found the cuffs under some wrapping paper and put them in your purse. You meant to return them but forgot. Will found them and tried to break them to impress you. You were both really surprised he did. You had no idea it would be a problem.

"Do you think they'll believe us? Will asked desperately.

"Commander and Jetstream have the choice of believing this story, or imagining you handcuffed to a bed. "

When Warren put it that way, Will felt more confident.

As they all got up for fourth period, Warren had the thought that it was too bad he couldn't tell his Dad about this. The Baron enjoyed his Stronghold crew stories. He'd find this one hysterical.

MEANWHILE, AT COMMAND CENTRAL NORTH AMERICAN DIVISION.

"Mrs. Stronghold," Josie turned to look at the woman addressing her. She was not in a good mood. She just had her twenty minutes with Dr. Vester concerning the missing equipment. Root canal was worse, but not by much. She was less than pleased to see the woman she held responsible for this entire mess.

"Ms. Bowman," she said stiffly.

"I think we need to talk."

Josie looked at her curiously. They couldn't find a private room, so they settled on a bathroom. Bowman checked under the stalls before starting the conversation. "Your son is dating Layla Williams, I believe."

_As if your daughter hasn't complained about that. _Josie had been amazed when Bowman's girl had suggested to her that she would make a better girlfriend for Will than a sidekick. "Yes, for over a year."

Josie's frosty demeanor was off putting, but Bowman had a career to save. "Felicity told me that Layla showed some interest in the handcuffs at the party."

Josie's eyes widened a bit but she didn't say anything.

"I'm aware that my daughter isn't a great friend of Layla, but Layla did see the cuffs."

"Is that it?" Jetstream asked.

"I just thought you should know," the other woman stuttered a bit. She found Mrs. Stronghold terribly intimidating. "I just want this over. If the cuffs were to be returned, I think everything will be okay."

"We all would like that," Josie agreed.

After Bowman had left the room. Josie reached for her cell phone.

"Steve, it's me."

"How'd it go?"

"The meeting, as bad as I expected, but I think I have an idea what's going on. Meet me in the sanctum before Will gets home."

"Why?"

"Remember when you asked Will what Layla got him for his birthday and he shattered the glass he was holding.

"Oh, God," Steve groaned.

LATER THAT EVENING.

"Steve, the kids are here. They want to talk to us. Can't imagine why," she muttered under her breath.

She and Steve had brainstormed this little problem. There was always a chance they were off base. They decided to drop a few hints at the dinner table. Hopefully that would encourage him to confess, if not the entire affair, at least his possession of the wanted artifact.

Josie had all been for searching his room, but Steve had vetoed the idea.

Oh, this should be good."

Josie was equally perturbed with her husband. Steve was treating this like some harmless prank that got out of hand. He was actually amused.

"They look adorably cute. Nobody would believe how perfidious they are?"

Steve groaned. He and Josie had gotten into a fight last night about all this. Josie had always babied Will.

This had been an unpleasant shock.

The older Strongholds entered the living room. Steve greeted the kids. They were sitting next to each other on the couch.

_They look so young._

"So, you have something to tell us." It occurred to him that possession of high security handcuffs was hardly the worse news the kids could give him.

They looked at each other for a split second. They had spent the afternoon rehearsing this conversation.

"I heard you talking about missing handcuffs," Will began.

Steve didn't even realize he was holding his breath. _I'm definitely going to give Will a refresher talk on the birds and bees._

"Do you know anything about them?" Josie jumped in. Steve shot her a warning look.

"When I was cleaning I found a pair of handcuffs under the couch," Layla told her. "I meant to give it to my mother, but I forgot. I put them in my purse. Will was hunting around for my cell phone and found them."

"I was just fooling around with them," Will had taken Peace's advice. He was wearing an overly large red shirt and his hair was artfully arranged in a mop of curls. "I put them on."

Steve and Josie traded a look.

"There is no way," his son continued earnestly, "I would have done that if I thought they'd break."

"Wait . . . , you broke them," his mother seemed shocked. Steve's jaw dropped. Will felt his stomach lurch. Things had been going so well until now.

"You broke them," his father asked, as if he had somehow misheard.

"ahh, yes." Layla put the two pieces on the table. Steve made a strangled sound.

"Just where did you break them?" his mother asked. Her face was stark white.

Steve was wondering how they were going to explain this to Command.

"ahh, we were at Layla's house."

"70 percent berillium." Steve muttered under his breath.

"I know we should have told you sooner, but we honestly didn't think it was a big deal," Layla said softly.

"Maybe they were defective," Will suggested.

Steve and Josie didn't answer him.

Will stood up, "if there is nothing else. I'm going to walk Layla home." His parents still seemed to be in processing mode. Will decided to get out of the house for awhile.

They didn't try to stop him.

"Well that was easy," Layla said as they left Stronghold property.

"That was weird," her boyfriend corrected her

The Strongholds stared at the cuffs.

"I suppose we should be grateful they didn't have sex on the table in front of us," Josie said tartly.

Steve counted to ten. "We have to keep the kids' names out of this."

"I can't believe they lied to us."

"You expect them to tell the truth?"

"Yes, I do," she glared at her husband. "You're not the least bit upset about this."

He shrugged. "Not really. I mean," he gestured toward the cuffs, "I wasn't expecting this of course."

His wife started pacing. "We should just tell Vester the same story we just heard. It is pretty believable."

"After I couldn't break them during tests," he disagreed. "If they know Will broke them they'll drag him in for testing and at some point he'll either pass out or babble what really happened. Or maybe have a nervous breakdown before he even makes it to Central. This is what we should do. Lionel Sampson owns me a favor. Remember how I caught him with Bill Rickson behind the shrubs one day at school. I never said a word to anybody. We take the cuffs to him. He has authority over that entire department. We tell him you nicked them under the influence of alcohol."

"So I'm the lush. Our son is let completely off the hook and I'm the lush."

"I wasn't at that blasted party to take the blame. I put them on. You misplaced the key. So we had to laser the links apart."

"He'll know it was a traumatic break, not a clean break."

"And he'll know I'm lying. But like I said, he owns me a favor."

"What about Will? The over sexed teenager that caused all this."

Steve laughed. "Layla wouldn't have stolen the handcuffs if Will was oversexed."

"Steve, our seventeen year old son is involved with bondage."

"It's a pair of handcuffs, Josie. One time, not planned. I checked around. They were at Mei Lei's.

"That's not possible. We could barely get into that establishment. They wouldn't rent a room to a couple of high school kids."

"Ordinarily, yes. But it seems they owed Warren Peace a favor. Will and Layla had never been there before. They were only there a couple of hours. The room was clean when they left. Nothing really bad was going on."

"What do you regard as 'really bad?"

"Drugs, multiple partners, prostitutes, harnesses, autoerotic asphyxiation, a digital camera, web sites, auctioning genetic material. They're just a couple of suburban teens living a little on the wild side."

"But he lied, Steve."

Stronghold's jaw clenched. "I know." It was the one thing he had asked Will not to do. "Still, would you tell your parents this?"

"She bit her lip, "I guess not."

ONE HALF HOUR LATER, LAYLA WILLIAM'S HOME

Will walked Layla up to her door. He kissed her but didn't come in.

"You're going to tell your father," she looked at him sagely.

Will stuck his hands in his pocket. "No, of course not. I'd be a fool to."

"It's okay, if you do."

With one last embrace, Will turned and headed home.

He was not happy. He should be. It looked like he and Layla were in the clear.

He'd lied to his Dad.

Will didn't lie to his parents. Sure, he didn't always tell them the truth, and he hid stuff, but he didn't outright lie.

It was sort of against the family code.

Will tried to beat down his conscience. There was Layla to consider. Besides, his parents didn't want to know the truth. It would just make everyone really uncomfortable to say how'd he'd broken the handcuffs.

He was doing them a favor, really.

TWO HOURS LATER

Steve Stronghold looked up to see his only child standing in the doorway.

"Can I . . . can we talk." Instead of coming home for dinner, Will had walked down to the Paper Lantern. Warren was working but he'd sat with Will during his lunch break. He hadn't said much, just let Will mumble that he didn't feel he'd done the right thing.

"Sure."

"Not here, can we go down to the sanctum?"

Steve punched in the code. "After you."

Will slid down his mother's pole and started pacing the length of the room.

"So what's on your mind," his father said.

_No point prolonging it, _"I lied to you."

One of Steve's eyebrows shot up. This was the third time today Will had surprised him. Was Will just having a very interesting day or was he really that obtuse. "Sit down."

"Layla took the handcuffs, but she didn't mean any harm. Don't be mad at her. She didn't think it would be a big deal."

"Okay," Steve was worried about Will. He looked like he was going to be sick. "Do you want a glass of water?"

Will shook his head. "Layla and I went to a hotel and I broke the cuffs there. I was handcuffed to a bed."

Will waited for the explotion.

Even though Steve had figured that out, hearing Will say the words was very strange. It was all he could do to force himself to ask calmly. "Do you make a habit of that, William?"

"No sir. First time."

Steve sucked in his breath.

"First time with handcuffs."

His father said nothing. Will peaked at him. "You're not yelling."

"I thought there might be more going on than you originally told me," he answered carefully.

Will goggled at him. "But you didn't say anything."

"I didn't want to embarrass your mother or Layla. Will, I think you should wait until you are an adult for

anything more adventuresome than the missionary position."

"What's the missionary position?"

Steve nearly told him to look it up on the Internet, then remembered how much pornography was on the net. "It's the most common sexual position. Male is in the dominant position, female submissive. You're aligned at the groin. Sound familiar."

Will blushed crimson and made a mental note to not ask anymore questions like that.

"Will, do you use protection?"

"Dad, do we really have to get into that?"

"Don't even go there. You forfeited the right to be bashful. You're not leaving this room until I get an answer."

Will didn't think his father was joking. "No. Layla is on birth control."

"I'm going to buy you some and I want you to use them. Do you have any idea the consequences of a pregnancy would be?"

"You and Mom are too young to be grandparents."

"You and Layla are too young to be parents." Steve softened his tone. "Go upstairs and go to bed. You have school tomorrow."

Will headed toward the sanctum's exit when his father called to him.

"I meant what I said. I'm proud that you were man enough to be honest with me. I know it couldn't have been easy."

"Dad, does Mom have to know about this?" Will asked hopefully.

"I think we can keep this our little secret."

"Good, Dad. I really love Layla," He held up his hand. "I know you think we're too young but you're wrong."

"Well, that was quite a conversation," Josie walked out of the darkened corridor when the coast was clear. Steve's appreciative gaze took in her slinky red nightgown.

"Happy now," he curved his arm around her waist.

"mumm," she leaned in to his chest. "I just didn't like the idea of Will lying to us."

"Should I go tell him that you know what he and Layla did?"

She wrinkled her nose at him, "I don't think that's necessary. Now that Will has learned his lesion and is safely tucked in his bed," Josie twirled a pair of unbroken handcuffs around her finger. "Since we're going to have to return both sets tomorrow, I don't think we should let any time go to waste."

Steve swept her into his arms. "You do know Will gets his perverted streak from you. "

She pouted. "You're just jealous because he broke the cuffs and you didn't."

"Oh, that is so untrue," her husband corrected her. "The fact that I didn't break them speaks much more about control than power. Which is one reason I didn't freak out about all this. Williams still has a lot of learn."

"


End file.
